houaeton



(No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet 1.

No. 306,619. Patented Oct. 14, 1884.

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N. PETERS, Phm-ume n mr. Washingion. 0.6,

(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.

W. D. HOUGHTON.

MILL FOR ROLLING WIRE RODS, HOOPS, 0R STRIPS. No. 306,619.-

Patented Oct. 14, 1884 N. PETERS. Fhniutnhognphu I UNITED STATES A'rnNr Fries.

WILLIAM DIOKSON HOUGIITON, OF SANKEY \VIRE MILLS, VARRINGTON, COUNTY OF LANCASTER, ENGLAND.

MILL FOR ROLLING WIRE RODS, HOOPS, OR STRIPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 306,619, dated October 14, 1884.

Application filed April 12, 1884. (No model.) Patented in England January 24, 1384, No. 2,033.

$ (0Z5 whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM DIOKSON HOUGHTON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and residing at Sankey lVire Mills, \Varrington, in the county of Lan caster, England, have invented certain Improvements in Mills for Rolling i/Vire Bods, Hoops, or Strips, and the like, (for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 2,033, dated J anuary 24, 1884,) of which the following is a specification.

The ordinary wire-rod mills consist of single horizo'ntal trains of rolls, most of which are placed three highthat is to say, three, one above the otherfor the purpose of obtaining a reverse motion of the rolls. The bar to be rolled isput in by hand quickly from both before and behind the train, and as the rod in course of reduction becomes lengthened more at a time. In these mills complications are avoided and the working is simple and stoppages seldom occur; but the said mills are slow in output and occupy much lateral space. The universal mode of reducing the rolls, being by means of square, diamond, and oval grooves in the rolls successively acting upon the rods, requires the workman to be careful in putting the end of the rod into the rolls, and he has to turn or twist the rod in every pass and adapt it to the changed form of next groove to avoid the edges getting Where the fiat portions ought to be. I11 rollingwire rods by a continuous mill, with the rolls placed either in a horizontal line or superposed over the other, the use of square, diamond, or oval grooves requires twisted guides, or the rolls must be placed horizontally and vertically alternately. In either cases complication and difficulty in working are caused. The difficulty in working is also greatly increased by thedraft or take-up of the wire from one roll to the other having to be obtained within a definite and limited space, all the guides having to be accurately calculated both as to twist and length, for the slightest variation in these respects causes stretching or breaking and injury to the metal rolled. In a continuous mill of more than two sets of rolls the speed of the first and second rolls is necessarily limited to it is frequently passing through six rolls orthe length the remaining rolls are capable of taking up as the wire is delivered. In a continuous mill of, say, fourteen or sixteen pairs of rolls, the rod must pass very slowly through the three or four first rolls, and must gradually increase to the end if the rod is to be delivered hot, which is very essential in good rolling, so that the output of a continuous mill has never been much above, if any, that of an ordinary three-high mill run at high speed from beginning to end.

The object of my invention is to construct a mill which will combine the principal advantages of both the continuous mill and the reverse mill. I turn or groove the rolls so as to reduce the metal on its fiat and square, in order to dispense with any necessity for twistguides, vertical rolls, and oval and diamond grooves as at present used, whereby I obtain a larger output of work with less liability to breakageand less complication than has hitherto been possible. ple of the continuous mill with that of the reverse mill, freedom to the metal at the end of the two or more sets of rolls is obtained, it being a well-known fact that the slightest accident at either the fore or back end of the ordinary continuous mill causes great damage to the mill, and it will be easily understood how inconvenient it is to take the metal from the rolls of one pair of housings to the rolls of another pair of housings and back again to the same rolls, as is done in other mills.

In arranging a mill according to my inven tion I have pairs of rolls all arranged in one set of housings, as shown in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a front elevation, and Fig. 2 an end elevation, of a mill wherein the rolls are arranged according to my invention.

The first two pairs of rolls, A A-, are placed one pair above the other, and the other two pairs, B B are placed in like manner immediately behind and directly opposite to or in line with the rolls A A, all being contained in one set of housings, O, and being driven by special gearing, as shown in Fig. 1, to cause the upper sets of rolls, A' B to deliver the metal the reverse way to that at which the rolls A B below deliver it. The metal having entered By combining the princijourney the groove of the first or lower pair of rolls, A, it directs itself or is directed by a straight guide, as at D, into the groove of the second pair, 13, after whichit is sent on its return by being placed in the grooves of the upper set of rolls, B, from which it directs itself or is directed by the straight guide 1) into the grooves of the rolls A. It is then placed in and passed through the smaller set of grooves of the pairs of rolls, and so on till the required dimensions of billet or red are obtained. As before explained the grooves of the rolls are turned or grooved to take the metal on what is technically termed its fiat and edge, so that there is no necessity for either oval or diamond holes, twist'guides, or vertical rolls. There may be more than two sets of rolls arranged vertically, if desired. The grooves of the rolls which are opposite to each other or in the same horizontal plane are of the same figure, so that the rod has not to be turned between these opposite rolls. If hoops or flat strips are to be rolled, the grooves may all be of the same figure, and the strips be rolled without turning them at all, final rolls will of course be grooved in accord ance with the shape tobe given to the finished Of course I do not limit myself to passing the rod through the lower rollers first, as it may be passed through the upper rolls first,

if desired, the grooves being suitably arranged for this way of working.

The reason I prefer not to use more than two sets of rolls arranged horizontally is to avoid the complication necessarily attached to the arranging for the exact amount of de- The livery of one roll to another, and to enable me to run the rolls at a much quicker speed than can be possibly done if more than two sets are used.

The further advantage of two sets of rolls only in succession is that when the rod has attained sufficient length to be turned into the next rolls by hand it obviates any guide connection, and inthis way may be running through the whole of the rolls at the same time, as in a continuous mill, with the advantage of uniform quick speed throughout. The superposing them by using four sets or two sets of rolls placed in the same line above each other is simply to economize space, which is an advantage over the ordinary plan of wirerod mill.

I claim- A mill for rolling wire rods, hoops, or strips, or the like, consisting of pairs of rolls arranged and grooved for reducing the metal in the manner hereinbefore described, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings that is to say, arranged in sets of four high-or more, one set being situated to the rear of the other set and the grooves being made to reduce by fiat and square, for the purposedescribed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM DICKSON IIOUGIITON.

lVitnesses:

\VILLIAM Pruner.

1O Erith Street, Liverpool. XVI'LLIAM FrrzsIMoNs,

32 Boalcr Sta-act, Limo-pool. 

